Three weeks ago, on a sunny Saturday morning in Sydney, the NSW Government made a surprise announcement: all construction work in Greater Sydney was to close down for two weeks, immediately.

This announcement was due, we were told on the day, to the danger associated with the movement of people between sites and the logistics chain from suppliers to and from multiple suppliers and sites.  That said, Chief Medical Officer Dr Kerry Chant made it clear that while the movement of people was the issue, no advice was provided to the Government from NSW Health to completely close the construction industry.

A few days prior to the closedown, there were rumours about large government infrastructure projects having been identified as exposure sites for the Delta strain of COVID 19.  The Premier was questioned at the daily 11am media conference on the Thursday prior – then suddenly on Saturday, the Government closed the construction industry – no consultation, no notification.

It took the Government over a week to explain that there were in fact a few construction sites which had been closed down due to COVID-19.  They explained further that because the QR code and site visitor protocols were so sound, Health staff were able to quickly identify all potential exposures and there was no need to list those sites on the Health Exposure site web page (apparently this is a public notice for those who may not have “checked in” where this is considered to be a risk – shopping centres etc therefore dominate this list).

Since that time, 8 Greater Sydney local government areas have been locked down (and 5 Hunter LGAs have the same restrictions as Greater Sydney, while COVID-19 cases have steadily grown.

So with so much of the State locked down – why is it that the construction sectors thinks it has any right to re-open?  Why is it that on Saturday 31st, two weeks after the construction sector was closed, it was able to partially re-open? Why is it that a week later, the rules were again changed to allow construction workers to leave restricted LGAs to work on construction sites across Greater Sydney – albeit at a new limited site capacity of 50%?

The fact is, with so many LGAs locked down and construction workers not able to leave those LGAs for work, the limited supply of construction professionals, trades and labour effectively limited the re-opened site capacity to under 50% in most cases.

The reason why the industry was able to be re-opened can be summarised as follows: systems of safety management; and, the economy (jobs and livelihoods).

The construction industry is well-used to working with safety risk.  It comes with the job.  The sector is well unionised, particularly on larger sites.  Dealing with safety risk is a day-to-day matter for construction workers.  On site safety inductions; daily safety briefings (toolbox talks); mandatory check in and check out procedures (for all workers and visitors); compulsory personal protective equipment; more recently the wearing of masks, site entry temperature checks, the use of hand sanitiser and requirements for safe social distancing.  No industry is better set up to ensure that these procedures are in place and are followed than the construction industry.

The new rules will limit site capacity to 50% of the pre-Covid maximum capacity.  Further,

Workers who live outside restricted LGAs will be able to go into those LGAs for construction work.

Those who live within the restricted LGAs will be able to leave those LGAs for  construction work if they can satisfy one of the following conditions:

  • They have had 2 vaccine injections, OR
  • They have had 1 vaccine injection at least 21 days prior, OR
  • They have had 1 vaccine jab PLUS they must show a negative COVID test result every 3 days up till the 21 day mark is passed.

From Wednesday 11th August, all construction sites across Greater Sydney will be able to work with site workforce limits set at 50% of pre-covid capacity.

It turns out that, by and large, construction sites per-se were not the “vectors” for the spreading of the virus in the first place.  It was the deliveries of supplies, concrete, aggregate and the fact that these logistics processes involved visiting multiple sites and there was a fear among government officials that this could spread the virus quickly of not immediately curbed.

Nonetheless, once the sector dusted itself off to deal with its new (closed) reality, it got to work on developing a plan for the re-opening.  The key was to show that our industry was safe and could manage any outbreak.  All the industry leaders have worked closely with Government and the unions to develop a safe plan for the re-opening of the construction industry.  We have implemented trials of rapid antigen testing for our workforce.  Nothing will promote vaccination uptake greater than it being directly linked to the ability to work and earn income.

The reason a solid case has been able to be developed for the re-opening of the industry is because of a consistent, constructive tripartite approach to dealing with both the risks and the reality. Industry, Government and Unions – working constructively together.

We appreciate that other sectors are doing it tough. But they will be doing it tougher for longer if the economy completely tanks.  The complete shutdown of construction sector was delivering precisely that result.  Now there is a pathway for recovery and if other industries can build of this example, vaccination uptake will thrive and we will be able to move on.

Opening the construction industry, albeit for now at 50% site capacity, is a priority.  Doing it safely is imperative. Promoting the vaccination of everyone as fast as possible is critical.  This is the only pathway to a sustainable recovery while ensuring that the economy suffers as little as possible in these very difficult circumstances.

 

By Tom Forrest, CEO, Urban Taskforce Australia